An air valve is primarily used for inflating and deflating at least one air bag to provide an air cushion with appropriate softness, e.g., an inflatable mattress, an inflatable sofa and an inflatable cushion.
With respect to a common air valve, an inflation valve is generally connected to an air pump and an air bag, so as to achieve inflation of the air bag through introducing a gas by the air pump and via the inflation valve, and to prevent the gas having entered the air bag from leaking by the inflation valve. To deflate the air bag, a deflation valve is additionally connected on the air bag or on the inflation valve, so as to allow the gas in the air bag to pass through the deflation valve to achieve deflation.
For example, the China Patent No. CN105443807, a prior application of the Applicant, discloses a composite distributive air valve assembly including a control air valve and at least two inflation valves capable of respectively inflating or deflating different air bag assemblies. The control air valve includes a normally closed first distribution channel in communication with one of the inflation valves, and a normally open second distribution channel in communication with the other inflation valve. Each of the two inflation valves includes a check valve, a normally open inflation tube and a normally closed deflation opening. As such, once an air pump pumps for gas, one of the air bag assemblies can be directly inflated, or the other air bag assembly can be inflated by switching the control air valve. Further, when the air pump stops pumping, the pressure of gas in the air bag can be maintained by the check valve. When any of the deflation valves operates, the corresponding air bag can be deflated, thus the number of valves and the control program can be significantly simplified.
For another example, the Taiwan Patent Publication No. M521954 discloses a fast inflation device for an air mattress. This disclosure includes a first gas source and a second gas source. The first gas source is connected to a gas conduit pipe, and the second gas source is connected to a fast inflation pipe. The gas conduit pipe is connected to a first inflation portion of an air mattress, and includes a connecting tube connected to a gas intake pipe. The fast inflation pipe is connected to the gas conduit pipe, and the gas intake pipe is connected to a second inflation portion of the air mattress. Thus, using the assembly relationship of the first gas source, the second gas source, the gas conduit pipe, the fast inflation pipe and the gas intake pipe, after the first gas source and the second gas source provide a gas, the first inflation portion and the second inflation portion can be quickly transformed from an initial state to an inflated state. When the first inflation portion is in the inflated state, a part of the first gas source is alternately in communication with the gas conduit pipe, allowing a part of the first inflation portion to alternate between a non-inflation state and the inflated state.
However, in the above air valves, an air pump is primarily used to coordinate with at least one air valve to inflate and deflate at least one air bag, and the air flow for inflation and deflation cannot be changed according to application requirements, resulting in lowered inflation and deflation efficiencies.